Upon reaching the lee (west) side of the Berkshires and Taconics, the strong winds essentially jumped over the valley. The only times the winds really gusted over 50 mph in the immediate Capital District were during, or just before rainfall. As rain falls into unsaturated air, raindrops evaporate, thus cooling the air and causing strong downdrafts. This process literally forced these strong winds all the way down to the surface. Had we experienced more rainfall (also significantly weakened by "downsloping" motion off the Berkshires and Taconics), strong winds would have been brought to the ground more readily, and we would have likely seen stronger sustained winds and more numerous gusts at or above 50 mph.

Bonus geological facts: the Taconics were formed about 440 million years ago and stretch about 200 miles from Connecticut to Vermont. They include Mt. Equinox in Vermont, and Mt. Greylock in Massachusetts.

So we looked up the National Weather Service 1-day precipitation map today, and as you can see above, the Capital Region very much ended up with very little rain compared to the rest of the Northeast. In fact, you might even be able to say we were in the "dry corner" of the storm. We were lucky.

Post jump is a large-format clip from the map showing the entire Northeast and mid-Atlantic.

+ The core Capital Region largely missed on the rain and wind for much of Monday -- the NWS reports only a little more than 1/10 of an inch of rain for the day in Albany, with just a bit more over night.

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